CHICAGO – For over a year, 13-year-old Johnny Martin has spent nearly every weekday at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago to treat the soft cell cancer that was ravishing his body.

His cancer is so rare that there has been only one other surgery similar to the one they performed on him at the hospital. It took a team 26 hours to completely removed the dozens of tumors that grew in his chest cavity.

“I wouldn’t wish that kind of surgery on anyone. We were scared he might not pull through,” says Johnny’s mother, Michelle Boyer.

During chemo sessions, as soon as he was able to stand again on his own Johnny would make his way to a familiar hospital window, and its view of the dog park nearby.

As he grew stronger, he began fantasizing about owning a dog himself. To pass the time during his daily chemo infusions, he told every nurse, oncologist and doctor about his “dream corgi dog.”